Hidden in plain sight

Jim and Nancy do not disclose the fact that they will review a restaurant before they attend, ensuring their reviews are unbiased and uninfluenced by their position with the Sun Day.

The Dining Duo is getting old, and like the commercial says, we are starting to become our parents. We must admit, we now eat our main meal at 1:00 in the afternoon and try to be back in the safe confines of our beloved Del Webb before dark.

This time of year, everyone needs some comfort food. Nancy and I have a taste for saucy, cheesy, gooey, Italian food. The problem is most Italian restaurants are not open for lunch since COVID. We checked our vast secret data base of Italian restaurants, and found Galati’s Hideaway in Cary. If you know of any other Italian restaurants open for lunch, we would love to hear from you.

It’s called a hideaway for a reason. Our GPS proclaimed “you have arrived” and we could see what we thought was the restaurant, but could not figure out how to get to it. After driving around in circles in the adjacent strip mall parking lot, we suddenly saw the road leading to the hideaway. Jim is a moron, the building is huge and was right in front of him and he couldn’t get to it. Leave it to a man…

For lunch the dining area is closed, but there are a lot of tables in the bar. We peeked into the dining room and it is like a big dining hall with tables and a beautiful fireplace.

We settled in and ordered our first round of comfort food. We agreed on the Arancini appetizer ($8.95). This was homemade breaded rice balls stuffed with meat and peas and served with meat sauce. What arrived were three deep fried tennis ball sized portions of deliciousness. The outside was extremely crunchy, and the inside melted in your mouth. These were so large and filling, one went home in a doggie bag with us.

Nancy is on a diet for the New Year, and she still hasn’t broken her resolution!!! She discovered they offered a Chopped Salad with chicken or Italian meats and cheeses ($11.95), and she went the Italian way. This was an assortment of greens, chunks of Italian meats (capicola, mortadella, and salami) and cheese, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and olives all dressed with house Italian dressing. It was delicious and she only cheated a little bit today. She took half her salad home in a doggie bag.

If I’m on a diet, so is the moron. However, today not so much. He spotted the Stuffed Peppers ($15.95). These were one of each, red, green, and yellow bell peppers stuffed with rice, ground beef, baked with mozzarella, and topped with meat sauce. He claimed he was eating vegetables. That’s a stretch!!! The portion size and presentation were awesome. It looked good and tasted as good as it looked. He also was being very good, two peppers came home in a doggie bag.

FYI: This restaurant is handicap accessible.

If you can find it, this is a great Italian restaurant with reasonable prices. Next time, we will throw caution to the wind and go there for dinner, although it will probably be at 4:30.

Our bill was as comforting as our dinners, $46.36. Not bad for an appetizer and two entrees.

Jim’s take: I have never seen my entrée at any other Italian restaurant. The broiled melted cheese on top made the dish.

Nancy’s take: This chopped salad is really an antipasto salad, which is hard to find in restaurants. The house Italian dressing was great.

Have comments or restaurant suggestions for the Dining Duo? Send them an email at: thediningduo@gmail.com.

---

---